Shanghai: images from the French Concession

The French Concession holds a special place in my heart. It is such an atmospheric part of Shanghai, a hidden oasis amongst all the crazy new developments. The few streets near my house are the best preserved in the whole area, with their French maple trees lining the streets like silent soldiers.

Through my childhood, I saw these magnificent trees change through every season. In spring and summer, the bright green leaves make a thick foliage that stands strong despite the smog and pollution. The change of weather in autumn sees a change in the leaves to all shades of deep auburn and gold, scattering as the wind rustles gently. They crunch softly underfoot, a sound heard only among these streets. The trees stand tall but bare in winter, waiting patiently for the warmth to bring new growth again.

Each time I visit Shanghai, I am grateful that these trees around my place have remained in spite of all the new building developments in this busy modern city.

The French Concession is now quite a trendy popular area, especially as an expat neighbourhood. Boutique shops are everywhere, scattered amongst the old residential buildings. It is nice to see the defiance against name brand-consumerism that is rampant in modern China.

Old French houses converted into restaurants and shops along Fuxing W Rd. 

 

Fuxing W Rd #133, my favourite house in Shanghai (I just adore those oddly shaped windows). Previously a Moroccan restaurant, now a Belgian restaurant. 

 Only in the expat neighbourhood! Gelateria on Wuyuan Rd.

Discrete tattoo parlour on Fuxing W Rd. 

 Random homeware shop on Anfu Rd.

A visit to Shanghai is not complete without a visit to La Casbah (or three). I first discovered this hole-in-the-wall cafe opposite the Shanghai library while on elective at the hospital next door. Nothing, and I really mean nothing (from the menu board to the prices to the worn cushions.. to this sugar pot) has changed in the last 9 years and it is so refreshing to see something constant in this ever-changing city. How nostalgic I am!

Three May dreams

Pepitas

In this dream, K came to give me a lift to the train station. The time is maybe 6pm and it is dark as I get into his car. I notice that I am wearing a lovely wrap dress that I've not seen before, white in colour with a delicate light blue floral pattern. I also have a dark blue wrap and a small clutch. I sit in the car and chat with him randomly about things I cannot remember.

As we drive out onto the main road, the street lights become brighter and I notice that there is a large stain down the front of my dress. It looks like a red wine stain and it's so huge that I can't believe I didn't notice it before. I try covering it up with the wrap but there's no way to cover it and I am slightly horrified. I ask K if we can go back to my place so I can change but he says no it's too late now. We are descending down a steep hill and at the bottom we stop outside a large glass building. It is a bookshop named Austral's and he says "This is where I live now, I can't go any further."

We both get out of the car. He goes into the bookshop and goes up the stairs to his place. I turn and walk to the train station, feeling self conscious about my dress. There is a real crowd at the entrance to the station and I wonder what the fuss is about as I get closer. Where the ticket turnstiles are, there are lots and lots of dispensers like in those co-op shops, full of nuts and dried fruit. Pepitas! I think to myself, I need some pepitas to put on salad.

Then I wake up.


Ranger selling teddies

In this dream I am driving to C's house. Along the way I am stopped at a traffic light and I look around me. It looks like my neighbourhood in Shanghai and I feel puzzled because I'm in my Sydney car. I can hear the "beep... beep..." of the pedestrian crossing signal, which also doesn't exist in China. I feel even more confused when I see J standing on the side of the road waiting to cross the road.

Hey, I'll give you a lift! I wind down the window and shout to her. She's dressed in a long winter coat and a red scarf. She doesn't hear me, crosses the road and walks off.

The next scene is in a national park where we are walking along a well marked semi-paved trail which doesn't really look like a bush track. J is complaining that she needs to go to the bathroom, but we are in the middle of the bush. Though the track is in excellent condition, we are surrounded by dense jungle and the light feels low.

All of a sudden we emerge into brightness and we have come to a carpark. There is a large toilet block and we all go towards it. Inside there are multiple cubicles but each one is utterly disgusting in its own way. I cannot bring myself to go into any of them. Then I get to the very last one which is in the corner, and inside there is just a single bed immaculately made with fresh white linen. There is a hole in the ground and the bed is half perched over the hole. I squat on the ground hoping that I miss the bed as I try to pee into the hole. I reach to get some toilet paper and when I tear it off, I realise it's the corner of someone's black stocking.

As I walk out, I realise the door to the cubicle is one giant bookshelf, which is packed with those flat teddies doubling as hot water bottles. It all makes sense to me now - the park ranger lives in this cubicle and makes a side living from selling flat teddies!

Then I wake up.


A freestyle marriage

In this dream I am married to one of the Bankstown anaesthetists. I know this instinctively at the beginning of the dream even though he has not appeared yet. I am at a conference by myself and I'm staying in a really swanky hotel. After the conference finishes for the day, I go back to my room and decide to have a shower.

When I turn on the taps for the shower, the water starts spurting out of it in all different directions. The water pressure is strong and hot water is blasting uncontrollably everywhere. With some trouble, I manage to turn it off. I go outside and ask the manager, who tells me to have a bath. So I plug in the bath and turn the taps on. It's one of those antique clawfoot baths and it looks beautiful and inviting.

With one foot I step into the bath and the water temperature is perfect. As I stick my other foot in, the bottom of the bath suddenly gives way and I fall into the water. The bottom of the tub has gone and it has turned into a swimming pool. My room is also not there anymore, as the swimming pool appears to be outside. It is dark and there is a little moonshine, illuminating the surface of the water a pale yellow. The water is quite warm, and I wonder momentarily whether I am swimming in a geothermal pool. Then I realise with a start that I am doing perfect breast stroke, which I can't do in real life. I swim along leisurely, enjoying the glittering moonlight, gentle ripples and immense warmth of this huge swimming pool.

Suddenly there is someone next to me, also swimming breast stroke at a similar tempo. I turn and realise that it is a woman I met at the conference. We start talking about how strange it is that the hotel has turned into a swimming pool. And then the scene abruptly ends.

I am in bed with this aforementioned anaesthetist and I say to him, I have something to tell you. I would like to bring a woman into our relationship.

He looks at me with an imperceptible smile and says, that's fine.
Phew, I think, that was bloody too easy to be true.

I also have something to tell you, he says. I have been seeing a man as well, and I would like to bring him into our relationship.

I am startled and wake up.